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Microservicessystem_design~12 mins

Three pillars (metrics, logs, traces) in Microservices - Architecture Diagram

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System Overview - Three pillars (metrics, logs, traces)

This system collects and analyzes three key types of data from microservices: metrics, logs, and traces. These data pillars help monitor service health, diagnose issues, and understand request flows across distributed services.

Key requirements include real-time data collection, scalable storage, and easy querying for troubleshooting and performance optimization.

Architecture Diagram
User
  |
  v
Load Balancer
  |
  v
API Gateway
  |
  v
+-------------------+       +------------------+       +------------------+
| Microservice A     |<----->| Metrics Collector |<----->| Metrics Database |
| (Logs, Traces)     |       +------------------+       +------------------+
|                   |               ^                          ^
+-------------------+               |                          |
        |                           |                          |
        v                           |                          |
+-------------------+       +------------------+       +------------------+
| Microservice B     |<----->| Logs Collector   |<----->| Logs Storage     |
| (Logs, Traces)     |       +------------------+       +------------------+
|                   |               ^                          ^
+-------------------+               |                          |
        |                           |                          |
        v                           |                          |
+-------------------+       +------------------+       +------------------+
| Microservice C     |<----->| Traces Collector |<----->| Traces Storage   |
| (Logs, Traces)     |       +------------------+       +------------------+
Components
User
user
Initiates requests to microservices
Load Balancer
load_balancer
Distributes incoming requests evenly across microservices
API Gateway
api_gateway
Routes requests to appropriate microservices and enforces security
Microservice A
service
Handles business logic and generates logs, metrics, and traces
Microservice B
service
Handles business logic and generates logs, metrics, and traces
Microservice C
service
Handles business logic and generates logs, metrics, and traces
Metrics Collector
collector
Aggregates metrics data from microservices
Metrics Database
database
Stores time-series metrics data for analysis
Logs Collector
collector
Aggregates logs from microservices
Logs Storage
database
Stores logs for search and troubleshooting
Traces Collector
collector
Aggregates distributed traces from microservices
Traces Storage
database
Stores trace data to analyze request flows
Request Flow - 12 Hops
User → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → API Gateway
API Gateway → Microservice A
Microservice A → Metrics Collector
Microservice A → Logs Collector
Microservice A → Traces Collector
Metrics Collector → Metrics Database
Logs Collector → Logs Storage
Traces Collector → Traces Storage
Microservice A → API Gateway
API Gateway → Load Balancer
Load Balancer → User
Failure Scenario
Component Fails:Metrics Database
Impact:Metrics data cannot be stored, so monitoring dashboards may show stale or missing data. Logs and traces remain unaffected.
Mitigation:Use database replication and failover to a standby metrics database. Buffer metrics temporarily in the collector to retry writes.
Architecture Quiz - 3 Questions
Test your understanding
Which component collects logs from microservices?
AMetrics Collector
BAPI Gateway
CLogs Collector
DTraces Storage
Design Principle
This architecture cleanly separates the three pillars of observability—metrics, logs, and traces—using dedicated collectors and storage. This separation allows scalable, specialized processing and querying of each data type, improving monitoring and troubleshooting in microservices.